New housing schemes move a step closer

Two major housing projects have been given a boost after Crawley Borough Council received final confirmation that it has been successful in applying for a government grant worth more than £6m.

The £6.4m grant from Homes England’s Housing Infrastructure Fund will help unlock another 620 new homes in the town.

Telford Place in the town centre will receive £2m to bring forward development while £4.4m will go towards infrastructure that enables new homes to be built in Forge Wood, Crawley’s newest neighbourhood.

As part of the council’s housing development plans, key town centre site Telford Place will receive funding to provide an alternative access to the site, which had only supported up to 100 units. This additional access will enable more than 200 extra homes to be built.

The council announced in August that Clarion Housing Group had been selected as its preferred development partner to deliver 313 new homes. These will be a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments on the 1.85 acre site, which is currently used as a temporary car park.

Around half of the homes will be available for private sale, with the remainder consisting of shared ownership homes and 87 council homes charged at affordable rents.

Clarion held consultation events in October and November in the town centre, giving residents more information about the proposed development and answering their questions.

A planning application is expected to be submitted by the end of the year, with a view to starting on site early in 2019.

The £4,423,280 funding will be spent on an acoustic barrier and commercial building at Forge Wood, which will allow the development of 420 residential units, including 183 affordable units. These will be a part of the 1,900 residential units which make up the neighbourhood. Of these, 760 will be affordable units.

Councillor Michael Jones, Cabinet member for Housing at Crawley Borough Council, said: “We are determined to provide as many new homes as we possibly can; this confirmation of funding is a major step towards 733 units being built. This will make it easier for us in our efforts to significantly reduce the numbers of households on our waiting list here in the borough.

“Our ambition is to deliver more than 1,000 new council homes for people in Crawley over the next few years and this funding is helping us towards that."